The Tradition Today: Across virtually all cultures in the world, kissing somebody is a sign of respect, appreciation and, above all, love. In the West, kissing is relegated mostly to romantic or sexual encounters, and its so completely universal and accepted that nobody bothers to ask the seemingly obvious question: in what world should I really, really like you, so Im going to put my mouth on your mouth and keep it there logically translate into a hallmark of true love? This one, apparently. Where It Came From: Since weve been doing it for over five millennia, its fairly difficult to prove what actually got us cramming our mouths together, but there are a variety of theories as to why we started kissing, each one unsexier than the last. First of all, back in the good old days, its theorized that kissing was a pre-coital practice to make sure that the partner in question had healthy saliva and would therefore produce offspring with equally healthy saliva. Some university studies have pointed to kissing as a pre-emptive strike against certain saliva-borne viruses. In any case, nothing says romantic like cavemen and women walking around smelling and tasting each others spit to determine who would make the best babies! Alternatively, and most disgusting (and likely!) of all, theres the anthropological theory of premastication, or kiss feeding. Basically, back in the days before Gerbers, there wasnt much one could feed toothless infants, so mothers much like birds today would chew up food and transfer it orally to their infants mouth in an action exceedingly similar to what we now call the French kiss, which is at least three kinds of revolting. This kiss feeding, according to some was somehow the natural precursor to our tradition of kissing out of love. So next time youre making out with your significant other, pause for a moment and reflect on the long and beautiful history of the tradition (or, actually, just dont).
Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.
